First Set of Cards in the Store

Hi All! I am pleased to announce that the first set of notecards to go on sale is now available in The Grumblehog Store on Etsy!!! They come in a set of 6 (one card of each photo) for $12 or in a set of 12 (two cards of each photo) for $20.



PLEASE NOTE: The store is back up so the link above should be working!

P.S. I just got the cards back from the printer and, although I may be a little bit biased, they are GORGEOUS! I love them!

Doodling

This weekend I decided that I would start doodling again while I watched TV - to keep my hands busy. I doodled my way to good grades in high school even though it makes me appear like I am not listening or paying attention. In college, I refined it to this particular "art form". Does anyone else have a go-to-doodle that they always gravitate to when given a blank piece of paper? Please share!

Treasures

This is my bedside table. Two of the things in this picture were forgotten treasures that came out of one of those remaining boxes; the little glass dish - glued up from a clean break through the center, and the little tiny lamp - probably one of my most, if not THE most prized posession. I bought this lamp in about 1998 (oh my God, I just realized as I typed it that 1998 was a decade ago), at an auction sale in Manassas. I went with my cousin and my mom and hadn't planned on really buying anything. I saw this little lamp and absolutely fell in love. My mom's advice was to decide how much I felt I could spend on the lamp and then bid up to that price. But, I got into a bidding war and suddently I HAD to have this lamp!!!! I ended up spending an outrageous sum (for a college student, and really, for anyone) of $80. I have never regretted one penny of it, not once, I will have this lamp for the rest of my life and it brings me so much comfort.

The top glass shade used to hang on a scrolling hook that looped up from there you see the "handle" on the right. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, the WORST cat in the whole world, RatFace, broke it in a rampage. Amazingly, only the brass loop broke, not the glass on either the top or bottom so the lamp was salvaged. But, I was heartbroken over that for a while.

Three House Pictures - Scroll Down

Pillows, looking shlumpy in the sunlight.

Our "dining room" table, in use. This is a wonderful gateleg table so most of the time it is all folded up and tucked into the wall to save space. When we need it, it becomes our dining room. In this photo, things you can see are:
- Our front door
- The sign I made for our wedding that says "J and M's place, come on in"
- Two mismatched chairs that I love
- A rack with a million keys and a sentimental rubber fish
- The wine-barfing-chicken from our honeymoon
- The three pears from Shasta
- And an original painting of a 40 of OE, by Mrs. Cyclone, trust me, it went along with this.



The prettiest pile of dirty dishes you've ever seen. A chore I hate to do is to unload the clean dishes from the dishwasher and put them away. Scrubbing a bacon-greased pan for days to get it back to clean? Yes please! Putting away things that are already clean? No, thank you! So, while I wait for the clean-dish-fairy to come and unload the dishwasher, I am making a very organized pile of the next batch to go in. I was reading on a blog today a sentence that inspires me, "I often end up gazing adoringly at my washing up."

The Last Three Boxes

That's it, we are officially unpacked! These three boxes have been in the corner of our office since, well, last April 18th. I finally unpacked them and was very surprised at some of the things I found! Lots of old photos, an old wooden mirror, two small mirrors I had hanging in our old place, a lamp, some glassware, TONS of framed pictures that I can't imagine we possibly had room for in our old place.

Blue

I snapped this while J stopped at the ATM. Other accomplishment: I finally unpacked the last three boxes since our move 11.5 months ago! Found some forgotten treasures.

Neighborhood Walk

We are trying to get back in shape and also start going outside again even though it's chilly! February was so beautiful but March was, um, not really. Here are some photos from our walk though:

G and S

Here are our dinner guests, G and S, and after dinner J gave them a homemade bagel lesson and sent them home with 4 or so bagels for tomorrow morning. I think G is still not used to the fact that I am just going to take pictures of them doing random things whenever I feel like it.

Circles

I am NOT a food photographer! But, here is the prep for our dinner...after this I forgot to photograph it because I was too busy eating it all up! For much nicer photographs of this dinner, go to:

Cookbook Catchall: Spicy (but not too spicy) Korean beef and a DMBLGIT reminder

p.s. In the DMBLGIT contst, I got to be a guest judge of other peoples' food photography and that was so much fun! See here: Cookbook Catchall: Send me your photos: DMBLGIT, March 2008

Kitchen

As we prepared to cook dinner, I thought our kitchen looked really nice.

Weekend

Recipe for another good weekend:
Have J make bread and homemade bagels
Watch John Adams
Go on two long brisk walks around the neighborhood
Buy some sunflowers for no reason
Invite over friends and try out a Cookbook Catchall: Spicy (but not too spicy) Korean beef new recipe on them.
Put a pretty tablecloth on the table (that hasn't seen the light of day since our wedding)
Download a couple of new songs and crank them up while doing things around the house
Unpack the last three boxes from our move 11.5 months ago and find some forgotten treasures!

Tea

They were putting a new roof on the house we live in today. I withstood the noise for about 10 minutes before deciding I needed to leave for the entire day and not come back until they were long gone.

I went to my favorite coffee shop, found a sunny spot in the window, and had a cup of tea. If I could have curled up and taken a nap like a cat, I would have.

Pasta

Dude, I am married to a man who makes his own homemade pasta! How did that happen!?! A year ago, we didn't even make our own pasta from the box at home. Now he says things like "It's so nice to know exactly what ingredients are in the food I eat." I am really proud of him and impressed! I still can't bring myself to try the homemade pasta, but, you know, good for him!

Ikea

After kittens and a flea market, I made J go to the big blue and yellow box store. My idea of a great weekend - probably not his idea of a great weekend.

I decided I don't take enough photos of 1)J and 2)us doing totally normal things that no one usually takes a picture of. So, it is my end-of-march resolution to do better on those two things in 2008.

p.s. Yes, J got a new haircut, don't you love it?!

Vintage

So, one of my new loves, developed sometime in 2007ish is for vintage linens. Or, vintage-style linens too...but these are the real deal. We went to a flea market today and I picked up these little handkerchiefs and two dish towels. I plan to make one of the dish towels into a little market/produce bag...once I can figure out how to thread my darn sewing machine!

J

After the kittens, we went to lunch. It's been a while since I have taken just a nice simple portrait of J so I really liked this one. His smile is so natural and genuine in this photo - like I caught an unguarded moment. Perhaps it was snuggling kittens that made him so happy?

Kitten Kisses

This little one decided that J's beard needed a bath. Or, it was giving him kisses, however you want to look at it.

Kittenz in da hood

Yo, there's a kitten sleeping in your snuggly hood! Not fair! Too cute! You can see J's version of these events on his blog.

The Birth of a Star

I love these two photos because they came out better than I even expected. I am working on re-prooving to myself that you can take an interesting photograph anywhere. I won't tell you how, but I took these in my doctor's office waiting for her to come in and see me...

Abandoned Houses

And, I added two more to my growing collection on Abandoned Houses. I feel a body of work developing here.

Black and Whites

And now some that are more my style...scroll down for three pictures.

Spring

An appropriately First Day of Spring shot...

The D300, Finally

I thought the first day of Spring was as good an excuse as any to finally take my D300 out and push the shutter for the first time. This is the very first shot I took on the camera...DSC_0001.

This, not to flatter myself, reminded me of my friend and fellow photographer Anita's work over at Visual Haikus.

Welcome Home

Don't I have the best hubby in the world? I shouldn't even post this because it's just too nice...

Home

Dad's home and doing fine. I spent the day trying to help by cleaning - it's what I do.

Hospitals Suck III

Food is a good sign, even if it doesn't look good.

Hospitals Suck II

This was the sucky view from my Dad's window, not that my Dad or his roommate could actually see the window.

Clouds

A peacful sky, taken from the hospital parking lot.

Hospitals Suck I

So, hospitals suck. Really really suck. This trip just reminded me that I never want to go to the hospital again. And you have to be really really sick to actually want to go there. My sis and I did find that photographing things and yourself is a good way to kill time.

Flight

I had to make a quick trip to Virginia because my Dad was taken to the hospital. I packed in 20 minutes before dawn and drove off to catch a 6 AM flight.

I love to take photographs from the air though...

Awesome Group Photo

Group Photo

Group Photo, oh yeah! The Cyclones, J, The Dragon-Fires, and Me! (in birthday hats)

Mushroom

Mushroom really got into the birthday spirit.

Happy F*@%ing Birthday

It's always good to have close friends come celebrate your birthday - and my friends really turned out this year! Apparently, the traditional 30th birthday celebration includes inappropriate birthday hats (see above) and several other inappropriate gifts that I am too embarrassed to show on my blog. We had an awesome time though!

Happy Birthday to Me II

So, on my birthday, I went out and spent a lovely day all by myself (it was a Friday, some people have to "work"). I went to my favorite neighborhood and went shopping for little treats for myself - like this little plant!

Happy Birthday to me!

In the spirit of showing some old photos this week, I thought I'd share one of my own. Besides, it's my birthday and I can post if I want to!

This shot of me, with such a baby face, was from early 2001 and was taken during my first ever maternity shoot. I was so absorbed in my work that a friend and fellow photographer caught me unaware and took MY picture! It will always be one of my favorites because every time I look at it I realize how far I have come from a 23 year old learning my craft (with film!) to the photographer I am today.

I would like to say a big "THANK YOU" to everyone who has helped me along this journey and been so supportive in helping me achieve my dreams.

Special Offer for Friends and Family Only!

Hi All,

Just a quick note to let you know that I have a one-week-only, one-time-only, special offer sale going on this week. You can access it from my pro website, but you will need a top secret password and for that you will have to reach out to me!

There are 11 different images in the gallery, $10 each for 4x6 or 5x7.

This is not my official blog store, which will be opening soon, just a quick get-things-started sale at a friends and family discount!

Inspired by Mrs. Cyclone's poem:

I would buy stuff for my wall,
I would buy stuff big & small,
I would buy stuff Larson gal,
will there be discounts for your pals?

No Words